Spindle

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a spindle comprising a shaft, a sleeve rotatably mounted on the shaft by means of spaced bearings, means coupled to the sleeve which is adapted to retain a core having yarn wound about it, and a disc near the end of the sleeve which engages the yarn when a core is being retained and prevents yarn from slipping laterally off the core.

United States atent lnventor Louis Eickhofl Hazelhurst, Ga.

Chicago, 111.

SPINDLE 4 Claims, 1 Drawing Fig.

Apr. 30, 1969 July 13, 1971 Standard Oil Company Primary Examiner-Leonard D. Christian Attorneys-Arthur G. Gilkes, William T. McClain and John J.

Connors U.S.Cl 242/130, ACT: Disclosed is a spindle comprising a shaft, a 242/464 sleeve rotatably mounted on the shaft by means of spaced lnt.C1 ..B651'i49/02, bearings, means coupled to the sleeve which is adapted to D03 5/08 retain a core having yarn wound about it, and a disc near the Field of Search 242/464, end of the sleeve which engages the yarn when a core is being 46.6. 130.4, 131.1. 1295. 131 retained and prevents yarn from slipping laterally off the core.

1' ,l- 'l, p. 2 Vie H12 J 1.! I? n 72 m .li 7 k F- 44 an a a had an 32 28 42- 68 60b @fl 67 I8 590 6? 36 34 so; 59 58b 24 2s 4 Mk PATENTED JULI 3 I97! INVENTOR IS E/CKHOFF TTORNEY SPINDLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In weaving, a multiplicity of spindles are mounted on a suitable support structure called a creel," and yarn packages, comprising a hollow core having yarn warped about it, are mounted on the spindles. There are usually two or more strands of yarn per core. Hundreds of these strands are simultaneously off different cores and wound in a parallel fashion about a roll called a beam bobbin." Such a winding operation is called beaming, and the wound-up, parallel yarns serve as warp yarns during weaving.

Today many fabrics are being made either partially or wholly from synthetic, crystalline plastics. An example of this is fabric woven of polypropylene ribbon yarns. This fabric has found substantial commercial success as backing material for tufted pile carpets and rugs. However, synthetic yarn, and especially yarn produced from polypropylene, has a tendency to stretch longitudinally during beaming operations. This presents a problem. If stretching is too severe, the yarn will weaken and/or break. If stretching is un-uniform, the beam (the beam bobbin with the parallel strands of yarn wound up on it) will have some warp yarns substantially longer than other warp yarns. Another problem is also encountered in weaving plastic yarns due to the smoothness of their surfaces. Namely, with unwinding the yarn from the spindle, the yarn sometimes slips off the core laterally, becomes ensnared, and breaks. When this occurs-which is frequent using conventional spindles-production stops.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION I have invented a spindle which greatly facilitates beaming by providing smooth, even drawoff of yarn. My spindle also reduces or eliminates lateral slippage of yarn. This spindle includes a shaft on which a hollow, cylindrical sleeve is rotatably mounted. Preferably, at least two bearings are located near the ends of the sleeve between the sleeve and shaft, and mounted on the sleeve, are means which are adapted to retain a core having yarn wound about it. The core fits over the sleeve, and the retaining means holds it securely on the sleeve. Near one end of the sleeve are means which engage the yarn when the core is retained on the sleeve and which prevent the yarn from slipping laterally off the core. I have found that, when my spindles are used during beaming, weaving efficiency is increased by as much as 40 percent. I attribute a major part of this increase to the design of my spindle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The FIGURE, which is a front elevational view with sections broken away, shows a yarn package comprising polypropylene yarn l wound about hollow core 12, which is mounted on spindle 14 of my invention. The chief components of spindle 14 are: stationary shaft 16, sleeve 18, core-retaining means 20, and backing disc 22.

Shaft 16 is welded to flat base 24, and this base is bolted to strut 26. Sleeve 18 is coaxial with shaft 16, and set collars 28 and 30, respectively adjacent ends 32 and 34 of sleeve 18, prevent the sleeve from moving laterally along shaft 16. Washers 36 and 38, respectively disposed between ends 32 and 34 and collars 28 and 30, prevent the unloosening of the collars; and nylon bearings 40 and 42 respectively adjacent opposite ends 32 and 34 and disposed between sleeve 18 and shaft 16, pennit the sleeve to freely revolve about the shaft. This bearing arrangement is an important feature of my invention. Because sleeve 18 is mounted at its opposite ends by means of bearings 40 and 42, the weight of yarn I0 and core 12 is evenly distributed across the sleeve. Therefore, during unwinding, sleeve I8 revolves about shaft I6 and yarn I0 is drawn off core 12 smoothly and evenly so that stretching of yarn is minimized. Moreover, any stretching that does occur is uniform; hence during beaming operations each of the warp yarns of the beam will be essentially the same length.

Three elements are mounted on sleeve 18; braking drum 44, backing disc 22, and core-retaining means 20. Drum 44 is secured to sleeve I8, and belt 46, riding in track 48 of the drum, permits a braking force to be exerted when required.

Braking drum 44 is a conventional element.

Backing disc 22, which is another important feature of my invention, prevents yarn from slipping laterally off core 12. Setscrew 48, passing through hub 50 of disc 22, secures the disc to sleeve 18, and face 52 of disc 22 has glued to it pad54 made of foam rubber or other resilient material. Since shaft ll6 is tilted slightly relative to the horizontal, sleeve end 32 is slightly lower than sleeve end 34. Hence, during unwinding of yarn I0, the yarn is prone to slip laterally off lateral edge 55 of the wound-up yarn package rather than off edge56 of the package. However, because pad 54 presses against edge 55, such slippage is prevented.

The core-retaining means can be of any suitable design, but I prefer retaining means 20 because it is easily assembled and disassembled. This means 20 includes a pair of spaced supports 58 and 60 which are capable of moving laterally along sleeve 18. Each of these supports 58 and 60' comprises two, unjoined sections 580 and 58b, and 60a and 60b, respectively. Pressure springs 62 and 64 and associated set collars 66-68 are employed to restrain the movement of supports58 and 60. Spring 62, being biased towards collar 66, keeps sections 58a, and 58b, snug together to form between them grooved rim 70. Likewise, spring 64, being biased towards collar 68, keeps sections 60a and 60b snug together to form between them grooved rim 72. Disposed in these rims 70 and-72 are annular coiled springs 74 and 76, respectively. When core 12 is placed on spindle l4, inner surface 78 of the core slides over coil springs 74 and 76. This forces sections 580 and 58b, and 600V and 60b, to separate slightly, but because of the bias of pres.- sure springs 62 and 64, core 12 is held tightly. Thus, as yarn 10 is drawn off core 12, core 12 does not turn relative to sleeve 18.

In operation, end 80 of yarn I0 is first passed through a series of guides (not shown), then passed between rollers (not shown), and finally wrapped about a motor-driven beam bobbin (not shown). As the beam bobbin revolves, yarn is smoothly drawn off spindle 14, causing sleeve I8 to revolve freely about shaft 16. During this unwinding or drawing off of yarn 10, the yarn traverses back and forth along the length of core 12. But because of backing disc 22, yarn 10 does not slip laterally as it is prone to do upon approaching edge 55. The yarn unwinds smoothly with minimum stretching, and if unwinding must be stopped, a breaking force is applied to spindle 14 through belt 46 and drum 44.

Although I have described my spindle in connection with polypropylene yarn, obviously it could be used with other types of yarns or the like.

I claim:

I. A spindle comprising:

shaft means;

sleeve means having spaced bearing means for rotatably mounting said sleeve means coaxially on the shaft means, said bearing means being located near the ends of the sleeve means;

means coupled to the sleeve means which is adapted to retain a core having yarn wound about it, said coreretaining means including at least one pair of support means on the sleeve means, each of said support means having a grooved rim and coiled spring within the grooved rim; and

backing means, coupled to the sleeve means near an end of the sleeve means, which prevents said yarn from slipping laterally of the core when the core is on the spindle.

2. The spindle defined in claim 1 whereinisaid backing means has a resilient member which engages and presses against the .yarn when the core is retained on the sleeve means.

means includes a pair of sections which are free to more laterally along the sleeve, and additionally including pressure spring means on the sleeve which restrain the movement of said sections.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 5 gqi ig g Dated July 1 3 19 71 Invent0r(5) Henry Loui s ljickhoff It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1 line 12 the word. "drawn" has been ommitted between "taneously" and "off".

Column 4 line 1 "more" should be move On the drawing and in the heading of the patent, after the word "Inventorz" the inventor's name should read Henry Louis Eickhoff Column 2 line 72 "of" should be off Signed and sealed this 25th day of April 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD MFLETCHERJR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM PC40 0 (10- USCOMM-DC 60376 ps9 lLS, GOVERHMKNY PRINTiNG OFHCFI I965 O366-3J4 

1. A spindle compriSing: shaft means; sleeve means having spaced bearing means for rotatably mounting said sleeve means coaxially on the shaft means, said bearing means being located near the ends of the sleeve means; means coupled to the sleeve means which is adapted to retain a core having yarn wound about it, said core-retaining means including at least one pair of support means on the sleeve means, each of said support means having a grooved rim and coiled spring within the grooved rim; and backing means, coupled to the sleeve means near an end of the sleeve means, which prevents said yarn from slipping laterally of the core when the core is on the spindle.
 2. The spindle defined in claim 1 wherein said backing means has a resilient member which engages and presses against the yarn when the core is retained on the sleeve means.
 3. The spindle defined in claim 2 wherein the shaft means is tilted relative to the horizontal so that the end of the sleeve means nearest the backing means is lower than the end of the sleeve means furthest from the backing means.
 4. The spindle defined in claim 1 wherein each support means includes a pair of sections which are free to more laterally along the sleeve, and additionally including pressure spring means on the sleeve which restrain the movement of said sections. 